THE Republic of Ireland’s performance in Paris may have brought the house down but the fans went one better - they brought down the city’s phone system.

VODAFONE Group, in which many former eircom investors hold shares, may raise its dividend by 20%, easing investor concern that chief executive Arun Sarin’s expansion strategy may hurt shareholder returns.

Vodafone Group PLC chief executive officer Arun Sarin said Vivendi Universal SA's SFR Cegetel unit will ond day be a part of Vodafone.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services affirmed its long-term single-A and short-term A-1 ratings on Vodafone Group PLC and said the outlook is stable, following Vodafone's announcement that it has agreed to acquire BT PLC's and SBC Communications Inc's stakes in French fixed-line and mobile telecommunications company Groupe Cegetel SA for €6.3bn.

Market heavyweight Vodafone and media group Reuters were leading the downward push today as the London market fell back.

BLUE-CHIP shares endured a sluggish start to the week as hopes of a sustained recovery diminished.

Telecoms giant Vodafone is preparing to bolster its size in Europe with a £8bn (€12.6bn) bid for French mobile group SFR, it was reported today.

London shares edged higher in midmorning trades, underpinned by another positive session on Wall Street last night, and fuelled by a resurgence of interest in technology stocks following Dell's Q2 figures overnight, dealers said.

Alphyra announced that profit [EBITDA] for the eight months to the end of December, 2001 was € 0.4 million compared to € 7.5m for the twelve month to April 2001.

Alphyra has announced that it has entered into a conditional agreement to sell the businesses of its Voice and Data Group, with the exception of the payphones business, for a total consideration of €12m.

Alphyra has completed the purchase of the Transaction Services Division of De La Rue plc for Stg £6m.